Shockingly, we only have one non-fiction title this week. We also have a historical fantasy, a contemporary Gothic, and a historical with a mix of mystery and romance.
Have you received any good book recs lately? Want to impart a recommendation of your own? Let us know in the comments!
A Bloomy Head
This one comes recommended from the romance slack at my office job. (Hello, if any of you are reading!) It’s a queer historical mystery with some romance. I do wish the cover were a bit better.
Army surgeon Thomas Holyoke never planned to return to Shropshire, to a life and a gender forced upon him. But after a terrible accident leaves him injured and feverish, he has no choice but to return to England with his faithful surgical assistant.
Newly widowed Kate Easting is determined to save her family’s failing farm with her cheesemaking skills. However, she must also contend with an unnerving number of chaotic siblings and the handsome, difficult doctor her twin brought home for her to nurse back to health.
When a decapitated body is found near the farm, Kate and Thomas find themselves at odds. Investigating the murder might bring dangerous attention to Thomas and Kate’s family, but letting a murderer roam free may have even more dire consequences. To make things more complicated, a spark of mutual respect and desire kindles between lonely doctor and cheesemaker. But what future can they possibly build together, when old secrets threaten to destroy them both?
Historical mystery romance, trans m/cis f.
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Dark City Dames
Have any film buffs if your life? I took a film noir class in college and it was honestly one of the best courses I took.
In this revised and expanded edition of his essential volume Dark City Dames, Eddie Muller—Turner Classic Movies host and author of Dark Cityand Noir Bar—offers a uniquely intimate look at the women who defined film noir, now featuring updated text, photos, and 10 new star profiles.
Film noir was the dark side of the movies’ happily-ever-after mythology. Sinister and sexy, it forged a new the tough, independent dame. Determined, desirable, dangerous when cornered, she could handle trouble—or deal out some of her own. If you thought these women were something special onscreen, wait until you meet the genuine articles. In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller takes readers into the world of six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain—from veteran “bad girls” Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, and Jane Greer to unexpected genre fixtures Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage. The book provides in-depth profiles of these formidable women during the height of their careers, circa 1950, as they balanced love and career, struggled against typecasting, and sought fulfillment in a ruthless business. Their personal stories—teeming with larger-than-life characters like Howard Hughes, Louis B. Mayer, Robert Mitchum, Otto Preminger, and John Huston—offer a fascinating counterpoint to their movies. Then Dark City Dames revisits each woman fifty years later, to witness their hard-won—and triumphant—survival. On every page their own voices ring through, reflecting on their lives with as much passion, pain, intelligence, energy, and humor as any movie script.
Muller conducted far-ranging interviews with the original six women profiled in Dark City Dames, in the process becoming a friend and confidante to each. In this revised and expanded edition, he updates their stories and shares illuminating, never-before-told memories of his time with them. This edition also includes compelling new profiles of ten additional women who left an indelible mark on film noir, including Joan Bennett, Gail Russell, Rhonda Fleming, and Claire Trevor—all packaged in a stunning redesign that offers the ultimate look at performers who helped define a still-resonant and inspiring epoch of Hollywood history.
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Greenteeth
Blurbed by T. Kingfisher! I also believe Carrie might be reviewing this one if you need to know more.
From an outstanding new voice in cozy fantasy comes Greenteeth, a tale of fae, folklore, and found family, narrated by a charismatic lake-dwelling monster with a voice unlike any other, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher.
Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce.
Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she’s worth saving. Temperance doesn’t know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor.
Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny’s lake and Temperance’s family, as well as the very soul of Britain.
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The Warbler
Sarah Beth Durst’s books have been previously reviewed and enjoyed on the site. However, this is more of a contemporary fantasy with Gothic elements, rather than an original fantasy setting like most of her previous books.
From the author of The Lies Among Us comes a magical tale about mothers and daughters, choices and consequences, and the real meaning of home when every place feels like a cage.
Ten months. That’s the longest Elisa has stayed anyplace, constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree.
But she’s grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relationships. When she discovers a small town in Massachusetts where mysterious forces make it impossible for the residents to leave, she hopes she can change her fate.
As Elisa learns about the town’s history, she understands more about the women in her family, who seem doomed to never get what they want. Now she believes she’s stuck, too—is that a patch of bark on her arm? But her neighbor’s collection of pet birds sings secrets that Elisa can almost understand—secrets she must unravel in order to be truly alive.
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